Restaurants are no longer just about filling an empty stomach.

Nowadays, “fine dining” means elaborate multi-course meals and set menus for triple the price of regular five-star restaurants.

And somewhat surprisingly, Vietnam is no exception.

Featuring highly trained waiting staffs, top quality produce and the freshest, most expensive, ingredients, fine dining establishments have arrived in Vietnam, with each looking to define its own signature style incomparable to others.

Due to the steep prices, few can afford to have such “fine” meals, but the nouveaux riches in Vietnam, plus a healthy congregation of wealthy expats, are eating it up.

FINE DINING IN VIETNAM

IN HO CHI MINH CITY

• Le Caprice
5B Ton Duc Thang St., Dist. 1

• Olivier, Sofitel Saigon Plaza
17 Le Duan Blvd, Dist. 1

• Signature, Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Tower
88 Dong Khoi St., Dist. 1
191 Hai Ba Trung St., Dist. 3

IN DA LAT

• Le Rabelais, Sofitel Dalat Palace
12 Tran Phu St.

IN HANOI

• Le Beaulieu, Hotel Legend Sofitel Metropole Hanoi
15 Ngo Quynh St., Hoan Kiem Dist.

• Spices Garden, Hotel Legend Sofitel Metropole Hanoi
15 Ngo Quynh St., Hoan Kiem Dist.

IN HOI AN

Senses, Life Resort Hoi An
1 Pham Hong Thai St.

“Our customers can be those who want to impress very important customers or even impress their lovers,” said Vincent Tan, executive chef at Equatorial Hotel.

The down low

Benjamin Attwater, a chef at Park Hyatt Saigon, explained the hefty price tags associated with fine dining: “to make a nice shape and different design fine dining dishes, the chef has to cut and waste a lot of food. Fine dining restaurants are not places one comes every day.”

One of the most important aspects of a fine dining restaurant is its ambience, its ability to take you away to another world.

Le Caprice offers breathtaking views of the Saigon River and a panoramic vista of the city.

Senses restaurant at Life Resort in Hoi An was designed to remind guests of Vienna.

Less is more

Fine dining restaurants eschew the “bigger the better” philosophy, banking on the fact that wealthy people watch what they eat and are content with paying more to eat less.

The first impression food projects when it is served is very important, so presentation is key.

“Just like a photograph, or a painting, a dish should be attractive and catch the eye immediately. And like a painting, a dish should have balance,” said Attwater.

Martin Bequart, executive chef at the Sofitel Saigon Plaza agreed, “Presenting a dish takes a lot of playing with ideas, colors, volumes, plate dressings, and setups.”

“The food is like a beautiful woman who just woke up in the morning. She should take care of herself with some nice clothes, make-up, accessories and perfume to make her more sexy and attractive. The same with the food after being cooked,” said Bequart.

“New fine dining restaurants are opening all the time in Vietnam, and more and more expat chefs want to show off their style here,” said Attwater. “Many young Vietnamese chefs are also learning about fine dining restaurants, and many of them, I’m sure, will be well recognized in their own right in the near future.”

From Hai Lang Town in the central province of Quang Tri, we drove across 6 kilometers of dusty roads bordered by tall grass and eucalyptus trees.

Before we reached Tra Loc Lagoon, we were refreshed by a drive through a dense forest.

Arriving at the lagoon, we could see the tall trees reflect perfectly in the still, ripple-less water.

Clear water, cool wind, pristine beauty.

Parts of the lagoon were blanketed by water-ferns, lotuses, and water-lilies.

The fragrance of cajuput flowers wafted from the forest and over the lagoon.

Monkeys gazed at us as they jumped from tree to tree in the forest.

The four-meter-deep lagoon is home to freshwater fish, including carp, snakehead fish, thac lac fish, and even wild ducks.

Groups can rent huts on stilts at the lagoon’s edge to stay over-night, singing, playing guitar and feasting all night. Food at the lagoon, mostly made from local fish, is delicious and cheap.

Some prefer to just sit silently, listening to the songs of singing birds in the forest.

From Duc Pho Town in the central province of Quang Ngai, we went west across seven kilometers of road through thick sugarcane fields.

We passed through a forest before the road let out into a poetic clearing of rocks and water. We had reached Da Giang Spring in Pho Nhon Commune.

We followed the spring that runs smoothly through rocks as the sound of crashing water grew louder and louder.

Then we hit the cascade, dozens of meters high. The waterfall created dazzling white spumes when it hit the spring.

It was easy to find large and flat rocks to use as small picnic tables. We were given shade by the leafy canopy of the old-growth forest.

My friend, who lives in the area, used a local trick to chill our beers: he placed them in a small hollowed out space in the rocks that filled with cool spring water. Ten minutes later, we were quenching our thirst with cold beer.

Orchids in yellow, purple, and pink jutted out from cliffs. Such a soft beauty in such a mighty forest!

Old Vietnam is alive and well at one of the country’s most sacred pagodas

Clay statues depict 18 Arhats (Buddhist monks post-enlightenment) at Chuong Pagoda

Chuong Pagoda, the centerpiece of Vietnam’s largest port in the 17th and 18th centuries, still stands as a tall reminder of Vietnam’s not so distant past: a time of spirituality, tradition and simple beauty.

Still the most scenic spot in the former town of Pho Hien, now a part of the town of Hung Yen, the pagoda has lost none of its historic allure.

Pho Hien was once the north’s premier port city and a vibrant commercial and cultural melting pot of Vietnamese and foreign peoples. It was second only to the capital city of Thang Long (now Hanoi) in terms of commercial activity.

Today, visitors to Hung Yen can see the unique historical and cultural remains of the past at Chuong (Bell) Pagoda.

Built in the 15th century under the Le Dynasty, the pagoda was then restored in 1707 in the architectural style of the post-Le period.

The pagoda’s name came from a legend:

In the days of myths and folk tales, a golden bell drifted to the shore of the Red River in Nhan Duc Village during a flood and when the waters receded it began to sink in the mud.

Throngs of residents of neighboring villages rushed to Nhan Duc to save the bell but they could not make it budge, it was too heavy.

Eventually a group of Nhan Duc villagers were able to take the bell home. Believing they had been granted the charm by God, the villagers then built a pagoda to worship the bell, whose toll could be heard for miles around.

Also known as Kim Chung Tu (Golden Bell Pagoda), the religious complex was built with meticulous attention to detail.

After entering the Cong tam quan (three-entrance gate), which has eight roofs, visitors cross a stone bridge over a lotus pond. The bridge will lead them to a brick patio made of bricks from Hanoi’s famous Bat Trang handicraft village.

Walking across the stone walkway in the middle of the patio is like walking through time. The path leads to a courtyard in front of the sanctuary compound. The bell tower and altar house, where local residents worship their ancestors, follow next

HOW TO GET THERE

 - Chuong Pagoda is located in Nhan Duc Village, Hien Nam Ward, Hung Yen Town, Hung Yen Province, 64 kilometers south-east from Hanoi.

 - From Hanoi, tourists can take buses 205, 208, or 209 from the Luong Yen and Giap Bat bus stations to get to the pagoda.

 - They can also book private buses at Hanoi’s Gia Lam bus station for the trip.

 - Another way is to travel by boat on the Hanoi – Pho Hien route from the Red River tourism wharf.

Cong tam quan (Three-entrance gate) at Chuong Pagoda in the northern province of Hung Yen

The pagoda, recognized as a National Architectural Relic by the government in 1992, has many carved Buddha statues, including the Tam The (three Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future), A-di-da (Amitabha), and four Bo-tat (Bodhisattvas).

Next is a startling wood relief depicting the Thap Dien Diem Vuong (Ten Courts Managed by the 10 Kings of Hell).

In it, sinners are depicted serving out punishments for their crimes: some are being dumped into a cauldron of boiling oil; others are having their tongues cut out.

But the Thap bat La Han (18 Arhats), made of clay, are much more peaceful. Each one depicts a wise monk expressing a different attitude.

The Arhats are Buddhists who have achieved full spiritual fulfillment. They have reached “Nirvana,” the state of absolute freedom from worldly cravings, and thus they are no longer subject to reincarnation.

Tourists can go up to the bell tower before contemplating a stele which dates back to 1711, built under the reign of King Le Du Tong. On the stele is engraved a picture of Pho Hien and the city of Thang Long.

The stele helped researchers locate the commercial road that once connected Pho Hien and Thang Long. It used to pass right by the Chuong Pagoda gate. The map also helped historians locate the borders of Pho Hien’s original 20 wards

The mad hatters of Chuong Village

Chuong Village has been the home of Vietnam’s famous non la (conical leaf hat) for centuries.

The small village, around 30 kilometers from downtown Hanoi, is often crowded with people buying non la and also watching local craftswomen make it.

The village’s Non Market is open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., six times a month, on the 4th, 10th, 14th, 20th, 24th, and 30th days of the lunar calendar.

Most non la are made from palm leaves. The leaf is cleaned with sand before being left in the sun to whiten. It is then evened by a blade.

The hat makers of Chuong Village, all women, then place the leaves over a frame made of bamboo circles. The leaves are tied into place with string and sewn from top to bottom. The excess leaves are then trimmed. Strong sewing makes the most durable hats.

Finally, to make the hat whiter and protect it from mold, the hats are singed with burning matches.

A man in the Central Highlands has transformed his cafe into a Jurassic Park of sorts, displaying more than 300 fossils he"s collected, some of them dating from hundreds of millions of years ago.

Most of the fossils on display at Hoang Thanh"s cafe in the Dak Lak Province town of Buon Ma Thuot are the remains of ferns and pines. Dozens of them are the remains of animals. Thanh collected the artifacts for dozens of years all over the highlands region.

His largest wood fossil, 1.7 meters long and weighing more than two tons, has been identified by scientists as coming from the Jurassic period 175 million years ago, Thanh said.

People can still see the core of the wood and its brown bark.

Another fossil 2.2 meters long is a mixture of minerals from a volcanic eruption. It makes a loud bell-like sound when struck. 

Thanh calls it the “rock bell” and named his café after it: Chuong Da.

He has refused several offers to buy his fossils. They are "too precious" for money, he said.

VinaCapital , Vietnam"s largest fund manager, Friday launched an 18-hole golf course in the central city of Da Nang.

Designed by Australian Greg Norman, the world"s number one ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s, "The Dunes" covers 150 hectares of a sand hill in Ngu Hanh Son District’s Hoa Hai Ward, about 10 kilometers from the city"s downtown area.

It is one of the two 18-hole courses belonging to the  Da Nang Golf Club. The other is yet to be put into use.

The club is part of the US$450 million VinaCapital tourism complex built along the Da Nang beach that includes hotels, villas and apartments.